1. Field of the Invention
The disclosure relates to a printing apparatus and a format edit program for printing print data onto a recording object medium and more particularly to an editor for editing a format for inputting data into a data input area specified in each recording object medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there has been known a tape printing apparatus (tape printer) capable of printing any picture or character strings onto a print tape in which an adhesive printing object sheet that has been coated with adhesive agent on its rear face and a separation sheet are overlapped with each other such that they can be peeled off from each other. In such a tape printer, for example, after a heading or title name is printed onto the printing object sheet, a print tape discharged from a label discharge port is cut into a predetermined length so as to produce a label. Then, the printing object sheet of this label can be peeled from the separation sheet and affixed to an object place such as a back cover of document file or rear side of video tape.
In the conventional tape printer, it has been known that a printing format prepared for each recording medium or label-affixing object is stored in the tape printer and a user produces a label based on the printing format. Generally, in the printing format for producing the label, a plurality of blocks are arranged depending on a recording object medium and the like and a user can input any picture or character string into a data input area constituted of these plural blocks. By inputting data into each block in an interactive way following a predetermined edit sequence, the user can produce a label easily and rapidly.
The label production procedure for the conventional tape printer will now be described.
A printing format 900 shown in FIG. 23 is used for producing a VHS videotape label used in the conventional tape printer and constituted of six blocks 901-906. More specifically, the block 901 is data area for entry of a symbol, the block 902 is data area for entry of a title, the block 903 is data area for entry of a comment, the block 904 is data area for entry of a recording time, the block 905 is data area for entry of a recording format and the block 906 is data area for entry of a recording date.
In this printing format 900, edit sequence for the respective blocks 901-906 is fixed preliminarily and a user inputs data following this edit sequence. As shown in FIG. 24, a screen 911 for entry of a symbol, a screen 912 for entry of a title, a screen 913 for entry of a comment, a screen 914 for entry of a recording time, a screen 915 for entry of a recording format and a screen 916 for entry of a recording date are displayed successively on a display portion of the tape printer and the screens are displayed in turn according to user's operation. If a user inputs any data into the respective screens 911-916 in the interactive way, the data input to the respective screens 911-916 are set to the respective blocks 901-906 of the printing format 900.
In the tape printer, after an image is printed onto a tape based on the printing format 900 after data is input, the tape is cut to a predetermined length so as to produce a label 920. As shown in FIG. 25, an image based on the printing format 900 is printed on the printed label 920, so that data input through the screens 911-916 are respectively printed at positions and sizes corresponding to arrangement and structure of the blocks 901-906. Consequently, a user can easily produce a VHS videotape label on which a desired data is printed.
Conventionally, a variety of arts for changing a printing format have been proposed. For example, a memory area in a RAM is provided with a print sequence table constituted of plural print blocks in which print sequence is fixed and each print column is supplied with an index number so that the index number is selectively written into a format setting column in the print block so as to set up a printing format. A printing format-setting unit for a printer has been known that enables a format constituted of plural print columns to be changed easily through, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. HEI 5-8491.